The candidacy for the 2027 presidential election of Teddy Riner, five-time Olympic judo champion, is “legitimate”, said Sports Minister Marina Ferrari on Tuesday, who “welcomed the man’s journey”.
“It is no more illegitimate than any other,” declared the Minister of Sports, Marina Ferrari, on the sidelines of the Demain le sport event organized at the Maison de la radio, saying “to hear the little trial of illegitimacy which is starting to take hold” concerning judoka.
“I think her candidacy is legitimate, she gets along,” she explained. I can only salute the man’s journey. For months, I have defended sportsmen and women who are politically engaged, saying that they are citizens like any other. So he has every right to get involved.” As for a possible combination of his mandate as President of the Republic and his sporting career, “it will be up to him to make choices. I fear that it will be difficult to carry out both,” said the Minister of Sports.
For Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, president of the Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF), “the fact that Teddy is involved in this campaign, if it can help to convey this message of the importance of sport, that’s a plus.” The president of the Paralympic and Sports Committee (CPSF) Marie-Amélie Le Fur, for her part, welcomed the fact of “seeing athletes who ultimately do not only wear the costume of high-level sportsman and who understand that, by the construction of their journey, by what they represent in the Nation, can also speak out”. “But he also wants to take concrete actions. So I welcome the approach in this sense. And we will listen to what he can offer in the field of sport,” she added.
Two bills aimed at reforming the High Authority for Transparency in Public Life (HATVP) were presented to the Council of Ministers on Tuesday in order, in particular, to provide it with the power of administrative sanction, according to the Ministry of Relations with Parliament. These two texts carried by Minister Laurent Panifous are based on the recommendations made by the president of the HATVP, Jean Maïa, in a report submitted in May.
The institution created in 2013 in the wake of the Cahuzac affair could notably change its name to become the High Authority for Public Integrity. This independent administrative authority is notably responsible for controlling the declarations of assets and interests of public officials (ministers, local elected officials, parliamentarians, etc.). Its mission is also to prevent conflicts of interest by controlling the revolving door of former public officials into the private sector, and also monitors the activity of interest representatives (lobbyists).
The government wishes to provide the institution with the power of administrative constraint, long requested by Jean Maïa. In the absence of declarations of assets or interests from a public official at the end of the legal period of 2 months, and after an injunction of an additional month, the Authority may impose a penalty of 500 euros maximum per day against the recalcitrant.
The Court of Auditors asked Tuesday the RN ally deputy Charles Alloncle, former rapporteur of the commission of inquiry on public broadcasting, not to “sow confusion among the French” concerning the institutions, in a letter obtained by AFP.
In his book I swear to tell the whole truth, published at the end of September following this commission of inquiry, Mr. Alloncle, now spokesperson for Marine Le Pen's campaign, "seriously calls into question the Court and undermines its independence", believes the first president of the institution, Amélie de Montchalin.
In addition, this book “casts unfounded suspicion on the impartiality of sworn magistrates”, she adds to the UDR deputy, asking him to “rectify [his] remarks by all possible means”. “I have no doubt that the principles attached to your mandate as a parliamentarian call on you not to sow confusion among the French on the functioning of the Court of Auditors, and through it, the institutions of our Republic,” insists Amélie de Montchalin.
During his presidency, François Hollande spoke at length to journalists who wrote books about it at the end of his five-year term. One of these works, A President Should Not Say That (Éditions Stock), by Gérard Davet and Fabrice Lhomme, had completed his last hopes of running for succession in 2017. A counter-model for Emmanuel Macron, who, once at the Élysée, always kept the press at bay.
But if he is much less fond of interviews with journalists than his predecessor, the president communicates extensively with other correspondents. Often late in the evening, in writing, via encrypted Telegram messaging. The philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy thus spoke of his nocturnal exchanges with the Head of State in Nuit blanche (Grasset, 2025). Françoise Degois, an editorialist clearly committed to the left, has drawn up a whole work from it, to be published this Thursday, November 5, which Le Figaro was able to read in preview.
Since Monday, the Élysée competition has included a new candidacy, that of the Olympic judo champion, Teddy Riner. “I say welcome to this race, it is also the demonstration that we are a living democracy,” says the Renaissance candidate, Gabriel Attal, on France Inter. Claiming to be neither right nor left, like the former prime minister, is an alliance possible with the champion? “It hasn’t even been 24 hours,” retorts Gabriel Attal, “he hasn’t presented his project.” Without, however, excluding welcoming him into the primary that he is calling for: “all those who are very clear about the absence of an alliance with one of the extremes will be legitimate”.
The former tenant of Matignon suggested that he would be ready to support Bruno Retailleau (Les Républicains) or David Lisnard (Nouvelle Énergie), if one of them won the primary. “I have profound differences with all the candidates, even more marked with some,” he admits. If he thinks he is able to “win” this competition between candidates from the right and the center, he assures: “if the one who comes out of this primary is the only one who is in a position to prevent a Mélenchon-Le Pen second round […] I have no reason not to vote for him”.
He’s a real dandy who says it: “If you noticed my outfit, it’s because I missed it.” What George Brummell, a figure of masculine elegance in aristocratic England of the 19th century, also means is that true good taste does not seek to be noticed. Which does not mean going unnoticed. This seems to be the position adopted by Laurent Wauquiez in recent times. At least, since his remarks which, last summer, had somewhat disconcerted his political family of the Republicans (LR).
“By his history, by the responsibilities that have been his, I believe that Édouard Philippe can embody the order and the seriousness allowing France to be restored,” declared the boss of the Republican Right (DR) deputies in our columns. Since then, the Haute-Loire elected official has been forced to silence or diagnose the state of the country. It must be said that the political situation has changed: the one who presented himself as the “warrior of the rally” for 2027 without being a candidate himself observes the general decline of the contenders for the Élysée who are fighting for the same electoral space: the mayor of Le Havre, but also Bruno Retailleau and Gabriel Attal. Without forgetting, “as if that wasn’t enough,” says a DR parliamentarian, the recent breakthrough of David Lisnard. Who, according to an elected official close to Laurent Wauquiez, risks having “the same fate as Zemmour”. Without forgetting either, we insist, the probable future declaration of candidacy from Xavier Bertrand.
“I tell you face to face, I am a candidate for the 2027 presidential election.” With this surprise declaration, Teddy Riner announced his candidacy for the presidential election, this Monday, November 9 in the columns of Le Parisien. In a video of less than three minutes, the judoka with an extraordinary track record appears in a blue suit, white shirt, sitting behind a desk. The library and the flag of France behind it complete the list of political visual codes. The athlete assures us: he is “neither to the right nor to the left”. “I observe the social divide that crosses the country, but what I do not accept is to hear from the mouths of young people, as well as those not so young, that it is difficult today to be able to envisage a future,” he explained.
Favorite sportsman of the French, ahead of footballer Kylian Mbappé, according to an Odoxa survey, Teddy Riner enjoys a popularity that would make many within the political class pale. But what is his candidacy for the presidential election worth? Can the Olympic champion transform his notoriety into voting intentions?
This Tuesday, in committee, the petition calling for “remove CNews from public broadcasting” will be examined. The text crossed the million signature mark. For Charles Alloncle, new spokesperson for Marine Le Pen, this examination seems “quite baroque”. “It is not the National Assembly which decides on the suppression or opening of a channel, it is Arcom,” he argues on RTL. Before shooting an arrow at the Insoumis party: “The Assembly does not have to be taken hostage by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, by his far-left offices.”
The MP who made himself known as rapporteur for the commission of inquiry into public broadcasting still states: “I am not sure that this is the priority”. The elected UDR, from Eric Ciotti's party, prefers to focus on the "budget", "social anger" or even "violence in the streets" for the last weeks of the legislature.
Yann Barthès is perhaps slightly offended to have missed the exclusivity of Teddy Riner's candidacy for the 2027 presidential election, made official this Monday, November 9. Nothing is lost, everything is transformed. This is the opportunity for a sequence to launch your show of the day.
“I observe the social divide that crosses the country, but what I do not accept is hearing from the mouths of young people, as well as those not so young, that it is difficult today to be able to envisage a future. This is why I decided to get involved, alongside the French, and therefore to be a candidate for the presidency of the Republic,” declared the judoka to our colleagues from Le Parisien. An entry into the campaign which he then confirmed on his social networks. This time in a video where he appears serious looking dressed in a suit. Sitting in front of a desk, the tricolor flag and a library as decor. All the codes are combined.
Guadeloupeans were having breakfast or going to work when Teddy Riner announced his candidacy for the presidency of the Republic early Monday morning. The French judoka is a local glory, born in Pointe-à-Pitre in 1989 even if he has hardly lived in the West Indies, his family having very quickly moved to Paris.
In the town of Gosier, a few kilometers from Pointe-à-Pitre, the information took a little time to circulate for those who were not hooked on social networks. “Teddy? To the presidency of the Republic? Is this a joke? You’re a joker, aren’t you?” reacts Marie-Ange, waiting for the bus to reach the university campus of Fouillole and Légitimus. “Our Teddy instead of Macron? It makes no sense but this campaign is so catastrophic at the moment,” she says again after being convinced by the presentation clip of the tatami legend. “You need serious people, you understand. Teddy is a champion but I don’t understand what he will have to gain, and yet we need someone efficient here,” says Christine at his side, who is on her way to work in a large hotel complex.
A large part of the high school and student organizations as well as the education inter-union left the first meeting of the Parcoursup reform committee on Monday, denouncing in particular the presence of representatives of the “extreme right and employers”. “We left this meeting in an inter-union manner and we insist on the fact that we will never enter a room with the extreme right, with people who are responsible for the propagation of racist, fascist and hateful ideas,” Manon Moret, general secretary of Unef, told the press.
“It’s a shame that there was the extreme right at this meeting,” added Éloïse Lefebvre-Milon, co-general secretary of the Student Union. Union officials notably denounced the presence of the UNI student union, which presents itself as the “first right-wing student movement”, as well as that of Thierry Tesson, RN deputy from the North, and Gaëlle Frontoni, UDR senator from the Alpes-Maritimes.
Among the youth organizations, only Renouveau lycéen, the UNI and a few elected officials from the National Council for High School Life (CNVL) chose to stay, according to a participant.
Raphaël Glucksmann announced a plan of 200 billion euros of public investment over the five-year term to finance his “ecological revolution” project, the “first 100 days” of which he presented on Monday to initiate the “exit from fossil fuels”.
To achieve carbon neutrality in 2050 and the stabilization of the debt by 2032, the social-democratic left-wing presidential candidate wants to proclaim a “state of ecological emergency”, include the principle of an “ecological Republic” in the Constitution, and adopt “an ecological programming law”.
“The environment must become a front-line subject in presidential campaigns,” believes Anne Bringault, from the Climate Action Network (RAC). “We know that the summer left its mark on the French, whether through the rise in the price of fossil fuels, unlivable housing at 35 degrees or fires. It goes beyond climate activists and guides campaigns,” she adds.
“Nothing we are proposing can escape the forks of the question of financing,” explained Raphaël Glucksmann during a press conference in Paris, in the presence of Senator Yannick Jadot, responsible for implementing this “ecological revolution”, which plans to “more than double the production of renewable energy by 2035”, but also to “sustain nuclear energy”.
